A fallacy is an error in reasoning resulting in a false conclusion or misconception. A fallacious argument can be deductively invalid (a formal fallacy) or one that has false premises or insufficient inductive strength (an informal fallacy).
A deductively invalid argument is one where the conclusion does not logically follow from the premises. That is , the conclusion can be false even if the premises are true. Thus a formal fallacy is fallacious only because of its logical form, regardless of its content.
On the other hand, an informal fallacy is fallacious because of its content, regardless of its form. An example of an informal fallacy is a conclusion that smoking does not cause cancer based on the anecdotal evidence of only one healthy smoker.
Here is a list of some of the more common fallacies, plus a few new ones.
- Ad hoc fallacy
- Affirming the Consequent
- Animistic fallacy
- Appeal to emotion
- Appeal to hypocrisy
- Appeal to Ignorance
- Appeal to the Minority
- Appeal to Nature Fallacy
- Argument from Analogy
- Argument from Anecdote
- Argument from Authority
- Argument from Consequences
- Argument from Fallacy
- Argument from Faith (in prep)
- Argument from false or misleading authority
- Argument from Popularity
- Argument from Tradition
- Argument to Moderation
- Association fallacy
- Begging the question
- Blaming the Victim
- Category error
- Centrifugal force fiction
- Chemophobia
- Circular reasoning fallacy
- Common sense fallacy
- Confirmation bias
- Confusing correlation with causation
- Conjunction fallacy
- Consent to risk fallacy
- Conspiracy theory
- Co-ordination fallacy
- Criticism of religion is not bigotry, let alone racism (in prep)
- Cultural universals vs cultural relativism
- David and Goliath Fallacy
- Denialism
- Denying the antecedent
- Doctrine of absurdity
- Dunning–Kruger effect
- Egocentric predicament
- Equivocation fallacy
- Fallacies of Composition and Division
- Fallacy of Inferred Insensitivity
- False analogy
- False balance
- False dilemma
- False equivalence
- Faulty generalisation
- Faulty risk assessment
- Fixation error (in preparation)
- Formality fallacy (in prep)
- Fragmentation of meanings (in preparation)
- Galileo gambit
- Gambler’s fallacy
- Genetic fallacy
- Glittering generality
- Groupthink
- Guilt by association fallacy
- Herd
- Historian’s fallacy
- ‘I’m entitled to my opinion’
- Independence of irrelevant alternatives
- Inflation of conflict fallacy
- Invincible ignorance (in prep)
- ‘It’s only a theory’
- Moral equivalence
- Moving the goalposts
- Noble cause corruption
- Non sequitur
- No true Scotsman
- Obscurantism
- Perfect solution fallacy
- Preference Failure
- Presentism fallacy
- Proposals are not propositions (in prep)
- Psychobabble
- Quantitative fallacy
- Recommendation fallacy
- Red herring fallacy
- Reductio ad absurdum fallacy
- Reification fallacy
- Russell’s Teapot
- Scientific Conspiracy Fallacy
- The Folly of Scientism
- ‘That’s just semantics’ (in prep)
- Sharpshooter fallacy
- The Slippery Slope
- Supply/Demand Fallacy (in prep)
- Stacking the deck fallacy
- Straw Man Fallacy
- Sunk Cost Fallacy
- Technophobia
- There are no ‘judicial inquiries’
- Three more fallacies of relevance
- Travel expenses are not ‘entitlements’
- Tu quoque
- Two Twin Fallacies
- Whataboutery
- Why anti-vaxxers get it so wrong
- Wishful thinking
- ’You can’t stop progress’ (in preparation)
- Zero Sum Fallacy
More fallacies are available at the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
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